1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image recording apparatus including a recording section and a recorded-paper carrying section, wherein the recording section records an image on a cut recording-paper having a predetermined length in accordance with a record size, and the recorded-paper carrying section carries the cut recording-paper, on which the image has been recorded, to a post-process. The present invention further relates to an image recording method.
2. Description of the Related Art
A printer processor for producing a photo print is widely used. In this kind of the printer processor, a photosensitive recording paper is exposed to form an image with recording light whose intensity is modulated on the basis of digital image data, which is obtained by photoelectrically reading the image recorded on a photographic film. The image data is sometimes recorded in a storage medium of a memory card and so forth. The exposed recording paper is developed and dried to produce the photo print. This kind of the printer processor has an advantage that image quality is improved by executing image processing of color-balance correction, sharpness correction and so forth.
In the printer processor of a digital exposure system, the image is exposure-recorded one line by one line as a cut recording-paper is accurately advanced by a feeding roller pair of an exposure feed section. After the exposure recording, the cut recording-paper is forwarded from the exposure feed section to a post-exposure carry section, and then is sent to a processor by a carrying roller pair constituting the post-exposure carry section. In the processor, a developing/fixing process is executed as a post-process. When the cut recording-paper to be carried is long, an anterior end thereof sometimes enters the post-exposure carry section during the exposure recording. At this time, a shock is caused when the cut recording-paper is nipped by the carrying roller of the post-exposure carry section. Upon reception of the shock, a feed speed of the cut recording-paper fluctuates during the exposure so that exposure unevenness is likely to occur.
In view of this, Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2001-83609 discloses an image recording apparatus in which a cut recording-paper is nipped and carried only by a downstream roller pair included in a plurality of roller pairs constituting a post-exposure carry section. Further, a carry guide provided in the post-exposure carry section is opened to allow a flexure of the cut recording-paper. In this way, since the cut recording-paper is nipped and carried by the minimum carrying roller pair, it is possible to reduce a shock to be received by the cut recording-paper.
In the image recording apparatus according to the above-noted Publication No. 2001-83609, a carry speed of the cut recording-paper carried by the post-exposure carry section is adapted to be slower that a feed speed (in other words, an exposure speed) of the exposure feed section to form the flexure. In a processor for executing a developing/fixing process as a post-process, a carry speed of the cut recording-paper is limited to the carry speed of the post-exposure carry section. Thus, it is necessary to design the carry speed in the processor so as to be slower than the exposure speed. Especially, in a case that image recording is simultaneously performed for the cut recording-papers arranged in plural rows, although the exposure speed may be set so as to be slow in comparison with the case of a single-row processing, it is necessary to design the carry speed so as to be slow as well. As just described, when the flexure is formed in order to reduce the shock to be applied to the cut recording-paper, the carry speed (post-processing speed) of the processor for executing the post-processing is limited. Thus, there is a problem in that the cost required for the design increases.